If you require testing of deeper soils or sub-soils, it is better to divide the material according to two or more profile sections. For example, you may wish to test 0-55cm, but it would be better to send one sample of 0-15cm, one of 15-35cm and another of 35-55cm.

Ideally, you should have a soil test to show what is required for each nutrient over the course of the growing season. In this case you should only need to move a planned fertiliser application forward to cover requirements caused by particular seasonal conditions.

If you have already applied the required amount of a nutrient, there are then a few things to check:

1. If you applied fertiliser and lime at the same time, the availability of fertiliser nutrients could have been reduced.
2. If you applied trace elements to either alkaline soil, they may have been rendered unavailable to plants
3. If you applied highly soluble forms of fertiliser and heavy rain followed the application, some of the nutrients may have been lost by deep leaching or surface run-off.

In any case, if you need to apply additional nutrients to cover a diagnosed deficiency, the best method is foliar application at moderate rates, repeating the application as needed.

Within Australia, samples can be sent by ordinary mail. However, samples sent from outside Australia are best sent by International Airmail, but not by courier services as these are treated differently by Customs. For full details, Click here.

Outside Australia, you can still use the Sample Information Form to send your Credit Card details, or pay online via PayPal.

Do not send cash in the mail!

If you are outside Australia, you will need to arrange your own packaging and postage.

In both cases, the packaging should be sturdy and the samples should not be free to jostle about inside. Also you should not send samples of more than one type in the same package (eg. Soil and water or Plant tissue and Fertiliser).

Now look at the topography and land use. If you have pasture on the rises where the sandy loam is and cropping on the clay soil flats - still just two samples. But if things are more complicated than that, you may need extra samples.

Lastly, if you have worked out the general sampling areas or sections of the farm on the basis of soil, topography and land use as we have described (let's say there are three), but each section contains five paddocks and you need to treat each of these paddocks one at a time (to control costs), then you would be better advised to sample and treat each paddock in turn, until you have completed one of the more general areas. That is, sample one paddock in the first year, two in the second and so on, until you have worked your way through the five that comprise the first section of the property.

Once you are satisfied that all the paddocks are properly balanced, you can cut back to one sample per year for that section and begin on the next one.

NB. Keeping soil in balance is very much easier and less expensive than getting it there in the first place. Eventually, you will be able to maintain the entire property with one sample per section per year and only small inputs to retain the proper cation balance and provide for balanced nutrition.

You should also use the Complete Soil Balance Analysis if you are involved in Organic or Biodynamic production.

Of course, if you are just getting started and are likely to need to do a bit of work correcting your exchangeable cation balance (the first and most important step), then stick with a Standard analysis.

If you are doing a farm plan and still working out such things as the most appropriate Land use, crop rotations and so on, all you need is the Standard analysis.

However, if you have already done a lot with balancing your soil; or if you want to accelerate the process of achieving optimum productivity, then you should choose the Complete Soil Balance.

Nutrients and biology are not so straightforward. Nutrient recommendations are only intended to provide for the requirements for a single growing season and soil biology is in a constant state of flux. For these soil components, re-testing on an annual basis is recommended.

Available cations are of interest as plant nutrients and since plants find both soluble and exchangeable nutrients are "Available" to them the available cations represent the sum of these two forms.

However, Exchangeable cations are of interest mainly for their impact on the physical condition of the soil itself, so (as the term suggests) they represent only the exchangeable form.

To our knowledge, SWEP is the only laboratory that provides this distinction, so it is little wonder people get confused, but there is no error, these results are supposed to be different.

However, during his research Ted Mikhail discovered that a proportion of the exchangeable Hydrogen forms part of the soil organic matter and if we were to attempt to balance all this Hydrogen with Calcium and Magnesium, application rates of Lime, Dolomite and Gypsum would be excessively high and it would result in degradation of the organic matter.

After further research Ted was able to determine what proportion of the exchangeable Hydrogen (relative to the organic matter percentage of the soil) needed to be left out of the balance relationship. This adjustment to the level of exchangeable Hydrogen produces the figure for "Adjusted Hydrogen". Similarly, when this adjusted figure was added to the results for other exchangeable cations (Ca, Mg, Na & K), it gives the "Adjusted CEC".

The importance of this figure is that it allows us to calculate desirable cation percentages for any soil and makes the process of balancing the soil much more reliable. This is part of the reason that SWEP can confidently handle soil samples from anywhere in the World - not just the few places where current field response trials have been done to "calibrate" the results.

Of course, many are present in only tiny amounts and have no impact on soil physics. So in practical terms, only those that are most abundant and that influence soil physics are required. These include Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium and Hydrogen.

If we ignored the Hydrogen and it comprised (say) 40% of the CEC, then the percentages of the others would be calculated from only 60% of the actual CEC - producing a distorted and misleading result. This effect will also become more exaggerated in soils with high organic matter, since this is naturally high in exchangeable Hydrogen.

Put simply, without an accurate measure of exchangeable Hydrogen, you can never be completely sure whether or not you have the balance right.

Differences in the Organic Matter Percentage will also have an impact, since this will affect the Adjusted CEC.

The Organic Matter Percentage will also have an impact, since this will affect the Adjusted CEC.

Lastly, while most people who compare two paddocks have the same Land Use on both, it must be said that a difference here will have the greatest impact of all. But remember, we can issue reports for up to three (3) Land uses per sample at no extra cost, so if you have different land uses between the two paddocks you are comparing, just let us know and we will send you the reports with the same Land uses on each one for better comparison.

The answer to this, we found, was to focus on the "Active" rather than total populations. To understand what we mean by this, let's think about some similar examples.

In an apple orchard, growth is not continuous throughout the year, but the trees do not die in winter - only their activity is reduced. Likewise, in perennial pasture during summer, the clumps of grass may look brown and dead, but a closer look will show small green shoot waiting patiently for the rain.

In the same way, the activity of soil organisms will vary with the season. Under unfavourable conditions, some may die, some may go into a 'resting phase', but others will retain some small amount of activity while patiently waiting for better conditions.

In the laboratory, when stimulated by the ideal conditions of our culture media, these "active" organisms will be the first to appear and their number will be the same in every season. They will also be less influenced by the time between collection of the sample and its arrival at the laboratory. This makes them the most useful ones to analyse (provided you also know what the results mean and what to do about them).

But first, try to imagine yourself in the place of a soil micro-organism. You will be living on the surface of a soil particle, alongside many others and interacting with them in various ways. If the soil you live in is a Sand, then the particles are enormous and they offer a certain amount of space for everyone to live. However, if the soil is a Clay, the particles are much smaller, but because of their small size, there are many more of them, so many more places to live. In other words, the potential population of microbes in the soil will be at least partly determined by the proportion of tiny clay.

Interestingly, a similar generalisation can be made about exchangeable cations. So it comes as little surprise that our research has shown a strong link between microbial populations and the Adjusted CEC. However, you must remember that this desirable population can exist only in a balanced soil.

Microbes (like people) are not Islands - they interact with each other - so what happens in unbalanced soils is that one or two groups grow out of control and suppress the activity of others. Often, the net effect is that the total population increases, but because it is the population of only one or two groups, the biodiversity is decreased.

Microbes (like people) are not Islands - they interact with each other - what happens in unbalanced soils is that one or two groups grow out of control and suppress the activity of others. Often, the net effect is that the total population increases above the desirable level, but because it is an increase in the population of only one or two groups.

To read more on this topic, please Click here.

If you feel you may need additional Potassium during the season, we suggest following up with a Tissue test. If you would like more help on this, please Contact us.

Mostly you will find that high nutrient levels require no action at all. In the rare situation where action is required, special programs will need to be developed and they will need to be determined on a case-by-case basis. If you think you may have a nutrient toxicity problem, you should start with a plant tissue test to properly diagnose the problem and then decide how to proceed from there.

Copper and 'Moly' are antagonistic to each other, so that adding one can create a deficiency of the other. This is most important for animal health and so it only affects samples for Pasture.

The main problem occurs when animals graze treated pasture soon after application. For this reason, if you are worried about applying Copper when there is enough in your soil, you can apply Molybdenum alone BUT you MUST keep animals off the pasture for at least 6 weeks (longer if there has been little of no rain).

The solution came when we found it was better to focus on the "Active" organisms rather than total populations. To understand what we mean by this, let's think about some similar examples.

In an apple orchard, growth is not continuous throughout the year, but the trees do not die in winter - only their activity is reduced. Likewise, in perennial pasture during summer, the clumps of grass may look brown and dead, but a closer look will show small green shoot waiting patiently for the rain.

In the same way, the activity of soil organisms will vary with the season. Under unfavourable conditions, some may die, some may go into a 'resting phase', but others will retain some small amount of activity while patiently waiting for better conditions.

In the laboratory, when stimulated by the ideal conditions of our culture media, these "active" organisms will be the first to appear and their number will be the same in every season. They will also be less influenced by the time between collection of the sample and its arrival at the laboratory. This makes them the most useful ones to analyse (provided you also know what the results mean and what to do about them).

However, it is important to avoid collecting samples until at least six weeks after any application of fertiliser, compost or manure and at least three months after any application of lime, dolomite or gypsum. You should also avoid sampling soon after any activity (such as cultivation, irrigation or chemical spraying). All of these activities can cause disturbances in the biological activity.

It should be noted however, that the kilos per hectare recommended for soil application cannot be simply converted to foliar applications. The best course is to choose a suitable product and follow the application guidelines on the label. Then, tissue test as repeat the application as required.

Nevertheless, the plant’s requirement remains unchanged and if the soil cannot supply the required nutrients, then you must. The real question is: “How best should I apply Trace Elements if I have strongly acid soil?” In many cases, you may find that foliar application will be a better option, while you wait for other soil improvements to take effect.

The only time Nitrogen should be applied to soils intended for Soybean production is where stubble has been retained from a previous crop. Here an application of 25 kg N/ha can be made prior to first turning this stubble under, in order to assist its decomposition. There should then be plenty of time for this Nitrogen to stimulate decomposition of the stubble during seed-bed preparation and prior to planting.

1. If you applied fertiliser and lime at the same time, the availability of fertiliser nutrients could have been reduced.
2. If you applied trace elements to an alkaline soil, they may have been rendered unavailable to plants
3. If you applied highly soluble forms of fertiliser and heavy rain followed the application, some of the nutrients may have been lost by deep leaching or surface run-off.

In any case, if you need to apply additional nutrients to cover a diagnosed deficiency, the best method is foliar application at moderate rates, repeating the application as needed to maintain plant health.

How quickly the soil reverts to its previous condition will depend on its capacity to hold cations. So a Sandy Loam will deteriorate more quickly than a Clay Loam and that, more quickly than a Heavy Clay. Nevertheless, once the cation balance has been properly corrected, it should take far less work to keep the soil in good condition.

In applying our recommendations, the amounts needed on your soil test report are NOT annual requirements. Once applied (in the proper amount, using materials with a quality standard as near as possible to that specified on the report and given time to produce their full effect), you should only require smaller adjustments after each subsequent soil test to replace any productive removals.

However, during his research Ted Mikhail discovered that a proportion of the exchangeable Hydrogen formed part of the soil organic matter and if we were to attempt to balance all this Hydrogen with Calcium and Magnesium, application rates of Lime, Dolomite and Gypsum would be excessively high and it would result in a degradation of the organic matter.

After further research Ted was able to determine what proportion of the exchangeable Hydrogen (relative to the organic matter percentage of the soil) that needed to be left out of the balance relationship. After adjusting the level of exchangeable Hydrogen in this way he added "Adjusted Hydrogen" to the report. Similarly, when this adjusted figure was added to the results for other exchangeable cations (Ca, Mg, Na & K), it gave the "Adjusted CEC".

The importance of this figure is that it allows us to calculate desirable cation percentages for any soil that will make the process of balancing the soil more reliable. In short, it is the reason that SWEP can confidently handle soil samples from anywhere in the World - not just the few places where current field response trials have been done to "calibrate" the results.

Of course, many are present in only tiny amounts and have no impact on soil physics. So in practical terms, only those that are most abundant and that influence soil physics are required. These include Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium and Hydrogen.

If we ignored the Hydrogen and it comprised (say) 20% of the CEC, then the percentages of the others would be calculated from only 80% of the actual CEC - producing a distorted and misleading result. This effect will also become more exaggerated in soils with high organic matter, since this is naturally high in exchangeable Hydrogen.

Put simply, without an accurate measure of exchangeable Hydrogen, you can never be completely sure whether or not you have the balance right.

The important point to bear in mind is that Aluminium is converted to a plant-available for by acidic soil conditions and these conditions a a function of the Hydrogen concentration. That is, Aluminium is a consequence of soil acidity - NOT the cause of it!

In balancing the soil we are interested in cations that occupy the bulk of the cation exchange sites and that affect soil structure and physical condition. Aluminium may become more abundant in acidic soils, but once the balance is improved, it disappears again.

However, even if this were not true, the amount of Aluminium would still not be as large as it seemed. For example, suppose a soil had 130 ppm of Aluminium. If this were all present in exchangeable form it would represent 1 me/100g. On the other hand 130 ppm of exchangeable Hydrogen would be 13 me/100g. From this it is easy to see that Aluminium cannot be a significant contributor to the cation percentages, especially compared with cations like Hydrogen.

In fact, our interest in Aluminium is in its toxic effects on plant roots, and so it is a Plant Nutrition concern - not one relating to Cation Balance (except in so far as its levels will decline sharply once the cation balance is corrected).

In short, it is the essential first step in developing an effective and sustainable soil management program.

Another factor is time. Some soils respond more quickly than others. If everything else appears to be stable, it may just be that you need to allow more time for the changes to occur.

More importantly, however, Field trials are based on showing what nutrients (at what application rates) give a measurable growth response under the general soil balance conditions of a particular area. In other words, if you flood the soil to 'Luxury' levels with various nutrients, which ones will force the most growth?

Clearly, this is not a sustainable approach and the reliability of recommendations it provides will changes with changes in the soil - making it necessary to continually repeat the trials in order to "re-calibrate" the interpretation system.

SWEP on the other hand, looks at the soil and recommends corrective measures to improve Soil Balance. Once this has been done, the nutrient requirements for a given Land use can be more reliably determined by comparing the needs of the crop or pasture with conditions existing in the soil at the time.

This is an important point, because SWEP does not simply give Fertiliser Recommendations. We determine nutrient requirements for a specified Land use during the course of its growing season - once the cation balance has been appropriately corrected.

Nutrient elements often interact with each other in the soil, further complicating the process, so the first step is to provide the proper balance of exchangeable cations in order to help minimise the effects of these interactions.

Having done this, the requirement for any crop or pasture can be determined and adjusted according to the conditions in the soil.

The objective here is not to produce a quick "green-up" or a growth response as such, but to ensure that nothing in the soil is likely to be limiting to the crop or pasture achieving it optimum potential.

Nevertheless, trace elements are essential to plant growth and the requirements for many plant species are well known. The things that make there use less reliable then, are the small amounts required and the complex interactions in poorly balanced soil.

SWEP recommendations are based on making up any shortfalls in the requirements for a particular Land use if the levels in the soil are insufficient. So far as the outcome of these applications is concerned, all we say is that if you supply the requirements of your crop or pasture such that a continuous supply can be maintained throughout the growing season, the nothing in the soil will be limiting to its potential.

SWEP recommendations, on the other hand, are for supply of the actual plant requirements (within the context of known soil conditions) through the period of the growing season for the specified Land use only! While some change in the 'fertility' level of the soil may occur, it is not the objective and precise changes cannot be predicted. However, it is a simple matter of repeating the soil test after 12 months and any such changes will automatically be incorporated in the determined requirements for the next growing season.

It should be noted however, that the kilos per hectare recommended for soil application cannot be simply converted to foliar applications. The best course is to choose a suitable product and follow the application guidelines on the label. Then, tissue test as repeat the application as required.

Copper and 'Moly' are antagonistic to each other, so that adding one can create a deficiency of the other. This is most important for animal health and so it only affects samples for Pasture.

The main problem occurs when animals graze treated pasture soon after application. For this reason, if you are worried about applying Copper when there is enough in your soil, you can apply Molybdenum alone BUT you MUST keep animals off the pasture for at least 6 weeks (longer if there has been little of no rain).

Nevertheless, the plant’s requirement remains unchanged and if the soil cannot supply the required nutrients, then you must. The real question is: “How best should I apply Trace Elements if I have strongly acid soil?” In many cases, you may find that foliar application will be a better option, while you wait for other soil improvements to take effect.

It should be noted however, that the kilos per hectare recommended for soil application cannot be simply converted to foliar applications. The best course is to choose a suitable product and follow the application guidelines on the label. Then, tissue test as repeat the application as required.

If you are Organic, thinking about being Organic or in Organic conversion, simply choose appropriate certified products or suitable manures or composts (provided you have a reasonably good analysis for them). Also, there are now many manufacturers of organic fertilisers and many can produce organic fertilisers to suit your requirements just as conventional fertiliser distributors do.

But first, try to imagine yourself in the place of a soil micro-organism. You will be living on the surface of a soil particle, alongside many others and interacting with them in various ways. If the soil you live in is a Sand, then the particles are enormous and they offer a certain amount of space for everyone to live. The available space on each particle may be large, but the number of particles is limited. However, if the soil is a Clay, the particles are not nearly so big, but because of their small size, there are many more of them, so many more places to live. In other words, the potential population of microbes in the soil will be at least partly determined by the proportion of tiny clay and organic particles.

Interestingly, the same generalisation can be made about exchangeable cations. So it comes as little surprise that our research has shown a strong link between microbial populations and the Adjusted CEC. However, you must remember that this desirable population can exist only in a balanced soil.

Microbes (like people) are not Islands - they interact with each other - so what happens in unbalanced soils is that one or two of the indicator groups grows out of control and suppresses the activity of others. Often, the net effect is that the total population increases, but because it is an increase in the population of only one or two groups, the biodiversity is decreased.

In short, more is not always better, but prior to this research we had no way of knowing.

However, research by SWEP has shown that these products do produce specific changes in the biological profile of soils and the conclusion is that this change is produced by bio-active compounds they contain, rather than any microbial content.

This is why we say that our recommendations will stimulate the growth of particular organisms, but it will be a stimulus of organisms already present in the soil.

While some people have claimed beneficial effects for very heavy or frequent applications of some bioactive materials like Humates, one type of product that should NOT be used at higher than recommended rates is a Kelp Extract. These materials are generally high in plant hormones and excessive applications can result in significantly reduced growth.

More importantly, our research has shown that - in well balanced soils (where there is no external source of disturbance such as recent cultivation or use of bio-active materials like manures and composts), the relative proportions of these groups become stabilised in a predictable balance relationship.

It is quite likely that other groups could be included in this relationship, but at present this is not necessary. If both the cations and nutrients are well balanced and there is no external disturbance, our recommendations will be sufficient to maintain optimal and sustainable productivity.

The only other considerations are to avoid sampling within one or two months of any applications (Lime, Fertiliser, etc.) or any activity that could produce some kind of disturbance to the biological community in the soil (eg. cultivation, application of composts or manures and so on).

The solution came when we found it was better to focus on the "Active" organisms rather than total populations. To understand what we mean by this, let's think about some similar examples.

In an apple orchard, growth is not continuous throughout the year, but the trees do not die in winter - only their activity is reduced. Likewise, in perennial pasture during summer, the clumps of grass may look brown and dead, but a closer look will show small green shoot waiting patiently for the rain.

In the same way, the activity of soil organisms will vary with the season. Under unfavourable conditions, some may die, some may go into a 'resting phase', but others will retain some small amount of activity while patiently waiting for better conditions.

However, not everything should be applied at the same time. The first priority is to correct any cation imbalance with appropriate amounts of Lime, Dolomite &/or Gypsum. You should allow about 6 months after these application BEFORE applying fertilisers and trace elements for Balanced Plant Nutrition. Any bioactive materials recommended on the soil test report should be applied after each application of either cation balance corrections or fertiliser.

However, one strategy that many people have found effective is to start with one paddock or section of the property and let the improvement in its productivity help as you tackle the next area and the one after, etc. This will keep costs down, while ensuring you get the right result.

Remember also that our recommendation is only intended to correct any shortage there may be in the soil for various nutrients that are needed during the growing season of the crop or pasture specified. These applications are not a permanent fix and the requirements can be very different for different crops. If you need further assistance in this area, please Contact Us.

This is an important point that we find many people fail to appreciate. We are not in the business of getting you to use more fertiliser. Our aim is to help you understand what is needed to optimise sustainable productivity. The first and most important priority for this will be to correct the soil cation balance. This needs to be done about 6 months prior to the application of fertiliser.

Most importantly, our nutrient recommendations are prepared on the assumption that the cation corrections have been made. As such, they are not intended to be a 'stand-alone' option.

However, the quantities recommended will be strongly influenced by the sample depth. In other words, the amounts recommended are those needed to correct the soil balance to the depth specified.

Normally this depth is 0-10cm for pasture and 0-15cm for horticulture or cropping. Sometimes people use other depths for particular purposes and this can produce the unusual recommendations.

In this case, there are two possible situations - either the sample depth was correct and so too is the recommendation (which will need to be cultivated into that depth of soil, or the sample depth was excessive and then so is the recommendation. Unfortunately, there is no way to adequately recalculate or adjust the recommendation as the balance condition of the soil often deteriorates with depth. That is, if the recommendation was 10 t/ha from a 0-20cm sample, you cannot simply halve the amount to use in treating only the top 0-10cm. This is because the 0-10cm layer may require only (say) 1t/ha with the soil below needing the other 9t/ha. Without a sample taken to the appropriate depth, there is no way of knowing. In this situation, the only thing to do is to test a new sample that has been taken from the correct soil layer.

However, there is one situation in which applying trace element fertilisers would be wasteful - where soil pH is greater than 8.0.

In this situation trace elements applied to soil may be 'locked up' and be unavailable to plants. In this situation the requirement remains the same, but the use of foliar sprays will be the only effective means of application.

Copper and 'Moly' are antagonistic to each other, so that adding one can create a deficiency of the other. This is most important for animal health and so it only affects samples for Pasture.

The main problem occurs when animals graze treated pasture soon after application. For this reason, if you are worried about applying Copper when there is enough in your soil, you can apply Molybdenum alone BUT you MUST keep animals off the pasture for at least 6 weeks (longer if there has been little of no rain).

The next thing to look at is the CEC. This and the Land Use are the two most important factors in determining the Desirable Levels, this is because, the "Capacity" of the soil to hold nutrients will influence how much is needed to ensure an adequate supply through the duration of the growing season. So even small differences between the two paddocks could produce significant differences in Desirable Levels.

The Organic Matter Percentage will also have an impact, since this will affect the Adjusted CEC.

And finally, while most people who compare two paddock have the same Land Use on both, it must be said that a difference here will have the greatest impact of all. But remember, we will issue reports for up to three (3) Land uses per sample at no extra cost, so if you have different land uses between the two paddocks you are comparing, just let us know and we will send you a pair of reports with the same Land use for better comparison.

If you feel you may need additional Potassium during the season, we suggest following up with a Tissue test. If you would like more help on this, please Contact us.

If you are Organic, thinking about being Organic or in Organic conversion, simply choose appropriate certified products or suitable manures or composts (provided you have a reasonably good analysis for them). Also, there are now many manufacturers of organic fertilisers and many can produce organic fertilisers to suit your requirements just as conventional fertiliser distributors do.

However, the quantities recommended will be strongly influenced by the sample depth. In other words, they are the amounts recommended are those needed to correct the soil balance to the depth specified.

Normally this depth is 0-10cm for pasture and 0-15cm for horticulture or cropping. Sometimes people use other depths for particular purposes and this can produce the unusual recommendations.

In this case, there are two possible situations - either the sample depth was correct and so too is the recommendation (which will need to be cultivated into that depth of soil), or the sample depth was excessive and then so is the recommendation. Unfortunately, there is no way to adequately recalculate or adjust the recommendation, as the balance condition of the soil will often deteriorate with depth. That is, if the recommendation was 10 t/ha from a 0-20cm sample, you cannot simply halve the amount to use in treating only the top 0-10cm. This is because the 0-10cm layer may require only (say) 1 t/ha with the soil below needing the other 9 t/ha. Without a sample taken to the appropriate depth, there is no way of knowing. In this situation the only thing to do is to test a new sample that has been taken from the correct soil layer.

1. If the recommendation is greater than 5 tonnes per hectare and it is to be applied either without cultivation or without irrigation. The recommendation should be split over 2 or 3 years to keep individual applications at or below this limit.
2. If you do not have irrigation and your rainfall is below about 600mm per annum, the recommendation should be split over two or three years.
3. If you have a shallow perched water table, but do not have adequate sub-surface drainage installed - DO NOT apply Gypsum! This may result in the displaced Sodium and Magnesium rising back to the surface by capillary action during a subsequent dry period. First install sub-surface drains and then proceed with the application.

In other words, if research has shown a crop requires a certain amount of a particular nutrient and the soil test indicates there may not be enough, we will give you the amount required to make up the difference, ensuring that nothing in the soil will limit the crop's potential in terms of either growth, yield or quality.

However, there is one situation in which applying trace element fertilisers would be wasteful - where soil pH is greater than 8.0.

In this situation trace elements applied to soil may be 'locked up' and be unavailable to plants. In this situation the requirement remains the same, but the use of foliar sprays will be the only effective means of application.

However, not everything should be applied at the same time. The first priority is to correct any cation imbalance with appropriate amounts of Lime, Dolomite &/or Gypsum. You should allow about 6 months after these application BEFORE applying fertilisers and trace elements for Balanced Plant Nutrition. Any bioactive materials recommended on the soil test report should be applied after each application of either cation balance corrections or fertiliser.

SWEP recommendations, on the other hand, are for supply of the actual plant requirements (within the context of known soil conditions) through the period of the growing season for the specified Land use only! While some change in the 'fertility' level of the soil may occur, it is not the objective and precise changes cannot be predicted. However, repeating the soil test after 12 months will show any such changes these will serve to reduce the recommendations for the next growing season.

It should be noted however, that the kilos per hectare recommended for soil application cannot be simply converted to foliar applications. The best course is to choose a suitable product and follow the application guidelines on the label. Then, tissue test and repeat the application as required.